Sliding-door lock.



C. F. RITGHEL.

SLIDING DOOR LOCK.

APPLIGATION FILED JUNI; 21, 1910;

991,81940. Patented May 9, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

l I s WITN ESSES: i INVENTOR C. F. RITGHEL.

SLIDING DOOR LOOK. APPLwATIoN FILED JUN; 2,1, 1910.

f 991,890; Patented May-9, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@NTB ST CHARLES F. RITCI-IEL, F IBRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0 GEORGE E. GREENBAUM, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

SLIDINGr-DOOR LOCK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. Ri'rcrmn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, United States of America, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sliding-Door Locks7 of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to door locks which are especially designed for use on the sliding doors of freight cars, and its object is to provide an inexpensive lock of strong substantial construction7 and to improve upon such locks as have heretofore been used.

l will describe my invention in the following specification and point out the novel features thereof in the appended claims.

Figure l is a front elevation of a portion of the freight car and its door with my improved lock thereon. In this ligure the door is shown partly opened. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same parts with the door closed and locked. Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation, and Fig. L an end view of a part of a peculiar threaded key which I have invented. These figures show the key on an enlarged scale and are more or lcss diagrammatic. In Fig. 5 I have shown my lock in sectional elevation, the section being taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the lock with its cover broken away to more clearly show its construction.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the figures.

l0 designates that portion of a freight car of well-known design which forms the doorjamb. A flat metallic plate ll, having a projecting lng l2 is set into the inner surface of the door-jamb and securely affixed thereto by some suitable means which cannot be removed from the outside of the door such, for example, as by a carriage bolt 13.

The door of the car is designated by 14. The lock mechanism is mounted upon a flat metallic base-plate which may be set into the inner surface of the door so that the outer surface of this plate is flush with the inner surface of the door itself.

21 is a cover which incloses the lock mechanism and forms a part thereof. This cover is so designed that it overlaps the edges of the base-plate 20. This cover is secured to Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led June 21, 1910.

Patented May 9, 1911. serial No. 568,076.

the door by means of through-bolts 22 which pass through the door and through lugs in the cover and are provided with nuts on the inside of the car which securely hold vthe parts of the lock in place and affix the mechanism to the car door.

The plate 2O is provided with a hollow boss 23 which projects through the door and is preferably flush with its outer surface. If desired a cover 24': may be provided which may be swung over or away from the boss 23.

25, 25 designate a pair of pins which project inwardly from the boss 2O and ma f be an integral part thereof, and similar pins 26 project from the cover 21 in alinement with the pins 25 in such a vway that when the cover is in place these pins are in alinement with each other.

27 is a slidable. block which is provided with a peculiarly threaded hole 28 which l. will describe more fully hereinafter. The lower portion of this block is constructed to form a cam surface 29. This block is guided on the pins 25 and 26.

30 designates the latch which is pivoted to the base 2O at 31 and the outer end of which is constructed to form a hoolelile portion 32 which is arranged to drop down over the lug l2 on the door-jamb when the door is closed to thereby lock the door and the door-jamb together. The opposite end of the latch 30 is constructed with a cam surface 33 with which the surface 29 of the slidable block 27 is arranged to coperate. A heavy spring 34 is provided which presses upward against this end of the latch so that it presses the end 32 of the latch firmly downward and holds it in its locking position when it is unacted upon by other de vices.

A lever 35 which is pivoted to the baseplate at 36 is provided with a detent 37 which rests upon the upper surface of the inner edge of the latch 30. These parts are so arranged that when the lever 35 is swung over its detent will press down upon the inner end of the latch and will thus raise its hooked end out of engagement with the lug l2. In the upper surface of the latch a notch 38 may be cut for holding this release lever 35 in the position which I have just described. This lever 35 projects through an opening 39 in the cover 21.

40 is a key of peculiar construction which l have invented for opening this lock. It comprises a shank al, one end l2 of which is threaded. lts other end is provided with a pin 4:3 which passes through it at substantially right-angles, and which projects further on one side of the shank than it does on the other side. intermediate the threaded portion of the lrey and its handle which is formed by the pin i3 a shoulder ail is formed. lt is my purpose to cut screwthread or threads upon this key of such unusual forni that it cannot be duplicated except at great trouble and expense. One of the ways this result may be accomplished is to cut three parallel threads of the same pitch but of unlike sizes and shapes.

Referring to Figs. 3 and a it may be seen that one of these threads ll5 is of the usual shape. rihe next parallel thread 4G is made with a flat top while the third thread -l has curved sides and top. The height of these threads may differ and so may the grooves between them. The slidable block 27 is cut as at 28 with internal threads corresponding with those upon the key. It is evident that each of these threads will run in its corresponding groove but will not run in the next adjacent one.

This lock may be manipulated from the inside of the door by the release lever 35. From the outside it can only be opened by means of such a lrey as have described. The threaded end of the key is inserted through the boss 23 with the longer part of the gin i8 projecting downward. rlhe parts are so made that only in this position will the key enter the block 27. Rotating the key will bring its shoulder 44 against the end of the boss 23, after which further rotation will pull the block 2T over the inner end of the latch 30 and its cam surface 29 acting against the surface 33 will push this end of the latch down and release its catch The parts of this lock are of heavy construction which, although of cheap construction, are of unusual strength and' are so arranged that they cannot be tampered with or broken.

l/Vhat l claim is :-M

1. A sliding door lock comprising a pivoted latch, a releasing block arranged to slide in a direction at substantially rightangles to the swing of the latch, said block being provided with an internal screwthread, and a key having a threaded screw arranged to move said block under one end of the latch to release the latch, said screwthreads being of non-standard construction.

2. sliding door lock comprising a pivoted latch having a cam surface near one of its ends, a releasing bloclr arranged to slide in a direction at substantially right-angles to the swing of the latch, said block having a cam surface arranged to engage with the cam surface on the latch and being provided with an internal screw-thread with its axis parallel with the movement of the block, and a key having a threaded screw arranged to move said block under one end of the latch and to release the latch, said screwthreads being of non-standard construction.

3. A sliding` door lock comprising a pivoted latch having a cam surface near one of its ends, a spring for pressing the latch into its locking position, a manually operated release lever for said latch, a releasing block arranged to slide in a direction at substantially 1"glit-aiigles to the swing of the latch, guides 'or said blc-ck, said block being provided with an internal screw-thread with its axis parallel with the movement of the block; and a key having a shoulder and a threaded screw arranged to move said block under one end of the latch to release the latch, said screw-threads being of nonstandard construction.

Il. At loclr having a latch-releasing meinber constructed with an internal screw, and aA key having an external screw fitting said internal screw, both of said screws having a plurality of adjacent threads of dissimilar shapes.

i lock having a latch-releasing member constructed with an internal screw, andV a key having an external screw fitting said internal screw, said screws having three parallel threads an equal distance apart, each of said threads being of a different shape but all of the threads being of the same pitch. n

ln testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES F. RITCHEL.

Witnesses ELLA TUOH, ERNEST W. MARSHALL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Yatents. Washington, 1D. C. 

